tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/anti-immigrant-37375/articlesanti-immigrant – The Conversation2019-09-06T12:39:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230972019-09-06T12:39:41Z2019-09-06T12:39:41ZWhat research reveals about drivers of anti-immigrant hate crime in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291242/original/file-20190906-175663-1ph40hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Violence directed against migrants from elsewhere in Africa flares up frequently in South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kim Ludbrook/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://m.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/at-least-i-am-alive-and-safe-xenophobic-violence-spreads-to-alexandra-where-it-started-in-2008-20190904">Mobs have attacked foreign-owned businesses</a> on the streets of at least three South African cities in recent days. This has caused outrage across Africa. There have even been <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/south-african-embassy-in-nigeria-closed-after-retaliatory-attacks-20190905">retaliatory attacks</a>. The South African government, under pressure to protect her <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/index.asp">large international migrant community</a>, quickly defused the attacks. </p>
<p>Such attacks are not new. For more than two decades, this type of crime has <a href="http://www.xenowatch.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Xenophobic-Violence-in-South-Africa-1994-2018_An-Overview.pdf">bedeviled the country</a>. There is <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-09-05-anger-at-xenophobic-attacks-spreads-across-africa-as-sa-owned-firms-are-targeted/">growing frustration</a> that so little has been done to stop it.</p>
<p>To combat anti-immigrant hate crime, we need to understand its drivers. Scholars at the Human Sciences Research Council have recently made <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03736245.2019.1599413">new discoveries</a> about the drivers of anti-immigrant hate crime in South Africa. </p>
<p>We found that a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2016.1181770?journalCode=rers20">significant share of the general population hold anti-immigrant views</a> and blame foreign nationals for many of the socio-economic challenges facing South African society. Yet there is little empirical evidence that immigrants are driving problems like <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dpr.12382">crime</a> or <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/247261530129173904/main-report">unemployment</a>.</p>
<p>But beliefs about the role played by foreign nationals in the country clearly influence how people think about anti-immigrant hate crime. <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-09-03-00-xenophobia-and-party-politics-in-south-africa">Anti-immigrant</a> statements <a href="https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/joburg-riots-makhura-vows-to-retaliate-against-foreign-nationals/">by politicians</a> also feed into the problem.</p>
<h2>Tracking anti-immigrant hate crime</h2>
<p>Data from the <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/departments/sasas">South African Social Attitudes Survey</a>, conducted annually since 2003, was used. The survey series consists of nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional surveys. It is designed as a time series and is increasingly providing a unique, long-term account of the speed and direction of change of public participation in anti-immigrant behaviour in contemporary South Africa. </p>
<p>Using this data, researchers have found that anti-immigrant hate crime is more widespread than previously thought.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2015, the following item was added in the survey questionnaire:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Have you taken part in violent action to prevent immigrants from living or working in your neighbourhood?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>People may be disinclined to disclose this type of potentially incriminating information during face-to-face interviews. But community research suggests that the stigma attached to participation in xenophobic activities <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2053168014534649">may not be as great as we may imagine</a>. Still, the reader should be aware of this possible under-reporting of anti-immigrant behaviour when reviewing the survey’s results.</p>
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<p>A minority of the South African adult population reported that they had participated in this form of anti-immigrant aggression. The share of the general public who admitted engaging in violence fluctuated within a very narrow band over the period 2015-2018. This shows the willingness of survey participants to respond to this question varies by only a small margin between the two periods. It also suggests a linear relationship between behavioural intention and attitudes.</p>
<p>The survey results demonstrate the ugly reality of violent anti-immigrant hate crime in South Africa. Although this is an important and dangerous type of prejudice, such crime is not the only form that xenophobia may take. Other forms of <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/hsrc-review-dec-2018/anti-immigrant-violence">peaceful anti-immigrant discrimination</a> are also evident in South African society. </p>
<p>Research has shown that more peaceful forms of anti-immigrant activities are often the <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/journal/10520/EJC-15a74a3d96">first step</a> in a process of escalation that leads to xenophobic violence. Past participation in peaceful anti-immigrant activity (such as demonstrations) was found to be a major determinant of this type of violence. </p>
<p>For this reason, we suggest in our study, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>policymakers should consider non-violent anti-immigrant activities as early warning signs of forthcoming anti-immigrant hate crime.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>One of the most troubling findings to have emerged concerned possible participation in anti-immigrant aggression among those who had not taken part before. More than one in ten adults living in South Africa reported in the 2018 survey that they had not taken part in violent action against foreign nationals – but would be prepared to do so. </p>
<p>This finding is quite disturbing given that there may be under-reporting of the propensity for violent action. Anti-immigrant stereotypes were shown to be a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246319831626">robust driver</a> of this kind of behavioural intention. This suggests that anti-immigrant attitudes could have a mobilising effect, spurring individuals towards acts of violent xenophobia.</p>
<p>The results of this study show that millions of ordinary South Africans are prepared to engage in anti-immigrant behaviour. So it is vital that the resources dedicated to combating xenophobia be equal to the size of the problem.</p>
<p>The South African government has a <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201903/national-action-plan.pdf">national action plan</a> to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The progressive measures put forward in the plan include immigrant integration, better law enforcement, civic education and increased immigrant access to constitutionally entitled rights.</p>
<p>Recent research <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/media-briefs/sasas/how-should-xenophobic-hate-crime">suggests</a> that many of these measures have a degree of public support. The plan was approved in March this year. If it’s to work, it requires adequate resources and support from all sectors of South African society. </p>
<p>Instead of focusing on short-term solutions civil society, foreign governments and the general public must work with the state to progressively implement this plan.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Gordon works for the Human Sciences Research Council as a senior research specialist. He receives funding from the Centre of Excellence in Human Development at the University of the Witswaterand. </span></em></p>Beliefs about the role played by foreign nationals in South Africa clearly influence how people think about anti-immigrant hate crime.Steven Gordon, Senior research specialist, Human Sciences Research CouncilLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1200682019-07-29T12:24:48Z2019-07-29T12:24:48ZWhy Trump's stoking of white racial resentment is effective – but makes all working-class Americans worse off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285554/original/file-20190724-110166-aahcot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump&#39;s largest base of support comes from white men. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump/ebeac91b95f34e3492554fef0b061eb7/12/0">AP Photo/Gerry Broome</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many white men <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/10/24/559604836/majority-of-white-americans-think-theyre-discriminated-against">say</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/28/17913774/brett-kavanaugh-lindsey-graham-christine-ford-backlash">they feel</a> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/white-men-react-poorly-women-and-minorities-power-positions-study-finds-839862">threatened</a> by the increasing presence and success of minorities in the workplace.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.umass.edu/issr/eric_hoyt">social</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6IIFqigAAAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;oi=ao">scientists</a>, we wondered if there is any evidence to support this perceived economic threat, a perception that can provide fertile ground for current rounds of racist and xenophobic political messaging. </p>
<p>Our work at the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/home">Center for Employment Equity</a> at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, involves using Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data to explore workplace discrimination and diversity in states and cities across the U.S. Our aim is to discover and promote more equitable workplaces. </p>
<p>In our most recent report, called “<a href="https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/diversity-reports">Race, States and the Mixed Fate of White Men</a>,” we examined the connection between minority populations and the job prospects of white men in private-sector companies. </p>
<h2>White male privilege</h2>
<p>Social scientists generally agree on three research findings about white men in the U.S. and the notion that they are losing their unearned but expected racial privileges.</p>
<p>First, white men at every education level are more likely than women and non-Asian minorities to get access to <a href="https://www.epi.org/data/#?subject=wage-education">higher-wage jobs</a>.</p>
<p>Second, while wages of average working-class people in the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjx043">have stagnated in recent decades</a>, and economic insecurity has grown, earnings for middle- and upper-class jobs – which are dominated by educated whites – have soared. </p>
<p>A third and more recent finding is that working-class white men are the group that is most <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/explaining-the-trump-vote-the-effect-of-racist-resentment-and-antiimmigrant-sentiments/537A8ABA46783791BFF4E2E36B90C0BE/core-reader">racially resentful and most opposed to further immigration</a>. This finding is based on analyses of survey data of the whole U.S. population examining both voting behavior and attitudes toward blacks and immigrants, zeroing in on President Donald Trump’s core supporters and the content of his political messaging to them.</p>
<p>This resentment probably explains why working-class whites, particularly men, are <a href="https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v5-10-234/">so receptive</a> to President Trump’s anti-immigrant and racist messages – and why <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-4446.12315">he targets them</a>.</p>
<p>We suspected that the reception to racist and xenophobic messages might be a reflection of a growing competition between working-class whites and minority men for increasingly insecure, low-wage jobs. </p>
<h2>White men dominate the executive suite</h2>
<p>In our study, we compared different racial groups’ share of specific occupations with their percentage of their state’s workforce. In other words, we wanted to see how over- or underrepresented white, black and Hispanic men were in various jobs. </p>
<p>In general, we found that while some white men are prospering in executive and managerial roles, there is another group of white men with very different employment experiences.</p>
<p>At the top end of the labor market, our data showed that in every state, white men were overrepresented in executive and managerial jobs. But this white male privilege varied substantially by state. White men got even more of the top jobs in states with larger minority populations.</p>
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<p>Texas, where minorities make up a third of the labor force and white men slightly more at 37%, was the most extreme. White men held 85% of private-sector executive jobs, making them overrepresented in top jobs by 138%. </p>
<p>Other states with sizable minority populations, such as California, New Mexico and Mississippi, similarly showed white men are especially advantaged in their control of the executive suite.</p>
<p>We found the same, if less extreme, pattern of white male advantage in private-sector management jobs.</p>
<h2>Working-class competition</h2>
<p>The pattern shifts dramatically, however, when we look at lower-paid working-class jobs. </p>
<p>These include machine and factory operatives, manual laborers and service occupations. Such jobs typically require high school degrees or less and tend to pay low wages. We find that more than half of these jobs pay below the living wage target of US$15 per hour.</p>
<p>In every state, black men were overrepresented as machine operatives, manual laborers and service workers. Hispanic men were overrepresented in machine operative and manual labor jobs in every state except Hawaii. </p>
<p>Working-class overrepresentation for minority men tends to be higher in states with <a href="https://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-majority-minority-populations-in-states.html">small minority populations</a>, such as Vermont, Maine and North Dakota.</p>
<p>But we wanted to get more directly at the degree to which working-class white men are competing for the same low-wage jobs as minority men. So we compared the number of black, Hispanic, Native American and native Hawaiian men performing operative, laborer or service jobs versus white men. In all states except Hawaii, these minorities are mostly black or Hispanic or both. </p>
<p>We found that in almost all states, working-class white men were competing for jobs with relatively large groups of minority men. And in 20, there were more minority men in these working-class jobs than white men. This pattern was most extreme in Washington, D.C. and California, where there were more than three minority men in these jobs for every white man.</p>
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<h2>Improving working-class lives</h2>
<p>This does not mean that working-class whites have lost their entire racial advantage, but rather that it is more tenuous and exists in a context of wage stagnation and increased insecurity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/american-non-dilemma">Research</a> shows that many whites attribute being stuck in low-wage, insecure jobs to competition with minorities but are unaware of the larger trends of wage stagnation and growing insecurity for all working-class jobs.</p>
<p>So it is perhaps not surprising that this combination of visible competition and misplaced blame creates fertile conditions for stoking racial and immigrant resentment, particularly at a time of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjx043">stagnating incomes</a>, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.95">falling unionization</a> and a <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/000312240907400101?casa_token=APOLn-6H_kYAAAAA:Ky6iXAV-mH5oYuZoxn_aL26VAHhKdtN46gA0GtvV6MJujA35vfeX19aZsbNxvdF5JDdhB-Q4zjz46w">growing lack of job security</a> – problems that have done the most harm to the working class, regardless of race or national origin. </p>
<p>Perhaps it is politically simpler to encourage workers to see each other as rivals, but <a href="https://www.epi.org/research">policy solutions</a> that will actually make a difference need to focus on shared economic security – rather than blame games. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&amp;utm_medium=inline-link&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter-text&amp;utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald Tomaskovic-Devey is the director of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Center for Employment Equity, which receives funding from the W.K Kellogg Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Hoyt is the research director of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Center for Employment Equity, which receives funding from the W.K Kellogg Foundation.</span></em></p>Two social scientists investigate why working-class white men are particularly receptive to President Trump's racist and anti-immigrant messages.Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey, Professor of Sociology; Director, Center for Employment Equity, University of Massachusetts AmherstEric Hoyt, Research Director of the Center for Employment Equity, University of Massachusetts AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1151902019-06-18T10:48:09Z2019-06-18T10:48:09ZDetaining refugee children at military bases may sound un-American, but it's been done before<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279559/original/file-20190614-158925-k734ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children line up to enter a tent at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla., Feb. 19, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Immigrant-Children-Detained/c08254ecbc61481887f853470ff1f595/30/0">AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/migrant-children-to-be-kept-at-armys-fort-sill-in-oklahoma/">Fort Sill</a>, an army base in Oklahoma, will soon become a refugee camp. The Department of Health and Human Services expects the repurposed military facility to house up to 1,400 unaccompanied migrant children from Central America <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/fort-sill-will-open-camp-for-1400-immigrant-children/">by early July</a>.</p>
<p>Border agents <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/16/border-apprehensions-of-migrant-families-have-risen-substantially-so-far-in-2018/">apprehended 54,000 unaccompanied child migrants</a> at the Mexico border last year alone. Typically, the government houses such children in temporary shelters and then <a href="https://www.axios.com/what-happens-when-migrant-child-crosses-border-2c99c81f-2765-4b2b-b4a1-10c9f264a63a.html">places them with relatives already living in the United States</a>. This means children can live with family and communities, rather than protective custody, as they wait for their asylum hearings. </p>
<p>This isn’t the first time the U.S. has housed kids at a military base, though. Fort Sill was used by President Barack Obama’s administration to shelter <a href="https://okpolicy.org/kids-fort-sill-now/">1,800 Central American migrant children for four months in 2014</a>.</p>
<p>Although the country hasn’t often had to cope with so many unaccompanied child migrants, my <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerethnhist.33.2.0057?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">research on refugee camps in America</a> reveals that the U.S. government has repeatedly turned to military bases to shelter unexpected – and often undesired – migrant populations. At different times throughout the 20th century, the federal government kept groups of people from Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba and Haiti on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/07/05/military-bases-used-to-welcome-refugees-to-the-u-s-now-american-bases-are-being-used-to-scare-them-away/">U.S. military bases</a>.</p>
<p>The result can be either efficient immigration processing or a prolonged, confined and traumatic experience. It all hinges on the federal government’s refugee policy, its commitment to resettlement and on broader American views of the migrant population housed at the base. </p>
<h2>1975: Vietnamese arrive to Fort Chaffee</h2>
<p><a href="https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/cuban-refugee-crisis-4248/">Fort Chaffee</a>, <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/guerrero-nuevo-south">in Arkansas</a>, is an informative example of the outside influences that can help or hurt the success of refugee camps in the U.S.</p>
<p>Established in 1941 as a military training camp, Fort Chaffee gained importance after the final U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. It was one of several military bases selected to receive 120,000 South Vietnamese fleeing their country as the North Vietnamese marched into Saigon.</p>
<p>In April 1975, approximately 50,000 Vietnamese arrived in Fort Chaffee. </p>
<p>Then, as now, the sudden arrival of so many foreigners divided Americans. Some felt generosity and compassion toward the Vietnamese migrants; others expressed anti-refugee sentiments and fear of invasion.</p>
<p>“The people of Arkansas might as well realize what they are sacrificing, bringing these people over to this fertile country,” wrote one local man to Arkansas’ <a href="https://www.swtimes.com/">Southwest Times Record</a> on May 4, 1975. “The day will come when there will be booby traps in the Ozarks.”</p>
<p>The letter writer, a Vietnam War veteran, saw the Vietnamese at Fort Chaffee as his enemy – not as U.S. allies who faced reprisals as a result of the United States’ war. </p>
<p>“[W]hen I went over there … I was going to keep them from getting closer to the United States,” he wrote. Instead, he added, “they almost beat me back here.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=474&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=474&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=474&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=596&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=596&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279565/original/file-20190614-158917-xeq388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=596&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The South Vietnamese migrants housed at Fort Chaffee were resettled quickly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb438nb278/">Online Archive of California</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ford welcomes the Vietnamese at Fort Chaffee</h2>
<p>President Gerald Ford and American military leaders felt responsible for their Vietnamese allies displaced by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/vietnam-war-who-was-right-about-what-went-wrong-and-why-it-matters-in-afghanistan-83258">U.S. war</a>. </p>
<p>The federal government admitted Vietnamese outside regular immigration channels and worked to resettle them in the United States. Ford even visited Fort Chaffee <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/11/archives/refugees-hail-ford-visit-to-center-at-ft-chaffee-ark.html">to greet the new arrivals</a> in August 1975. </p>
<p>“It’s really inspirational to see so many young people, old people and others getting an opportunity to be a part of America,” he said. “We’re proud of them and welcome them all here.”</p>
<p>Fort Chaffee offered English classes, basic cultural orientation lessons and spaces for religious worship to the Vietnamese held there. And the <a href="https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0164/1505185.pdf">U.S. military worked with volunteer agencies</a> to ensure they were quickly sponsored and resettled. </p>
<p>By December 1975, less than a year after their arrival, all 50,000 Vietnamese were living outside the base. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=434&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=434&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=434&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=546&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=546&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279563/original/file-20190614-158958-25lh1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=546&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vietnamese boys play soccer at Fort Chaffee, Ark., in 1975.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb396nb1ph">Online Archive of California</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1980: Cubans harassed at Fort Chaffee</h2>
<p>The base would be full of migrants again soon enough. </p>
<p>In 1980 approximately 100,000 people fled Cuba when President Fidel Castro – facing internal domestic pressure – briefly allowed <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520287976/boats-borders-and-bases">people to leave the communist island from the Mariel Port</a>. </p>
<p>Cubans from the Mariel Boatlift were more likely to be <a href="https://www.floridamemory.com/blog/2017/10/05/the-mariel-boatlift-of-1980/">working-class and Cubans of color</a> than the generation who fled after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Along with political dissidents and those seeking better economic opportunities, Castro also forced “undesirables” off the island, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/opinion/sunday/border-detention-tear-gas-migrants.html">those deemed to be criminal, mentally ill or gay</a>. </p>
<p>By flooding American shores with these highly stigmatized Cubans, Castro created a political problem for President Jimmy Carter.</p>
<p>Carter <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JLhWkTUg5r0C&amp;pg=PA87&amp;lpg=PA87&amp;dq=carter+open+arms+mariel+boatlift&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=TpjM4QrL3K&amp;sig=Bld3Yn4V1eqQV5QFqXDY1F20lcA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0CC8Q6AEwA2oVChMIlOWh__GWyQIVg-cmCh14HwJ2#v=onepage&amp;q=carter%20open%20arms%20mariel%20boatlift&amp;f=false">believed</a> the U.S. had an obligation to “provide open heart and open arms to refugees seeking freedom from Communist domination and economic deprivation.”</p>
<p>But many Americans saw the new arrivals as dangerous and unwanted. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/17/the-forgotten-story-of-how-refugees-almost-ended-bill-clintons-career/?utm_term=.d7661454b4a2">Bill Clinton</a>, then the governor of Arkansas, warned federal officials that sending Cubans to Fort Chaffee would be unpopular and possibly volatile.</p>
<p>He was right. In May 1980, locals from around Fort Chaffee met the approximately 20,000 Cubans who arrived there with hostility. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-05-mn-59567-story.html">Ku Klux Klan members</a> even protested outside the base and “<a href="https://people.com/archive/plagued-by-heat-crime-and-snafus-the-fort-chaffee-refugee-camp-becomes-an-american-nightmare-vol-14-no-1/">rant[ed] about white power</a>,” according to a 1980 People Magazine article.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=902&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=902&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=902&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1134&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1134&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279564/original/file-20190614-158953-1gw6rom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1134&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cubans line up for processing before being sent to Fort Chaffee in 1980.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-PA-USA-APHS287600-Cuban-refugees-in-/0f02e0a0afd54b8a9596fc66a4177f32/10/0">AP Photo/Paul Vathis</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Cubans sent to Fort Chaffee also resented their detention in what one <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerethnhist.33.2.0057?seq=1#page_scan_tab_conte+6nts">government official</a> called “a concentration camp atmosphere.” On June 1, 1980, hundreds of them protested and burned down base buildings. Many then walked off the base toward town. </p>
<p>The Cubans threw rocks and bottles, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/17/the-forgotten-story-of-how-refugees-almost-ended-bill-clintons-career/?utm_term=.61d1a2667385">fighting broke out</a>. Dozens of Cubans and Arkansas state troopers were injured. </p>
<p>Since it was difficult to find sponsors for many of these Cubans, hundreds stayed at Fort Chaffee much longer than the Vietnamese – in some cases over a year. </p>
<p>Over time, life at the military base became more restrictive. </p>
<p>“It’s hard to describe the place as something other than a prison,” <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerethnhist.33.2.0057?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">the Boston Globe reported in 1981</a>. “There are guards, fences; Cubans can’t leave the perimeters.” </p>
<p>The roughly 400 Mariel Cubans who had not found sponsors by February 1982 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/opinion/sunday/border-detention-tear-gas-migrants.html">were transferred to federal prisons</a>. Some were later released; many others languished in prison in <a href="https://atlantalegalaid.org/portfolio-item/1981-marielitos/">legal limbo</a>.</p>
<h2>Refugee camp or military prison?</h2>
<p>The history of Fort Chaffee shows that it’s risky to house refugee populations on a military base. </p>
<p>Executed with compassion and the promise of resettlement, it can facilitate shelter, social services and a quick transition. </p>
<p>Done badly, when anti-refugee sentiment is high, a military base can become prison-like – a place where migrants are confined behind barbed wire, with unknown release dates. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://time.com/5604991/donald-trump-migrants-asylum/">Trump administration’s stated policy toward refugees</a> is to deny them asylum and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/us/politics/ice-migrant-families.html">deport them as soon as possible</a>. That includes children. </p>
<p>It is unclear whether the young migrants sent to Fort Sill will have access to lawyers, education or social services. </p>
<p>In this political context, warehousing children at a military base seems ripe for lawsuits, unanticipated consequences and trauma for the children trapped there.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&amp;utm_medium=inline-link&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter-text&amp;utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jana Lipman received funding from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation Research Travel Grant in 2011 and the General and Mrs. Matthew B. Ridgway Military History Research Grant from the US Army Military History Institute in 2010.</span></em></p>Fort Sill, a military base in Oklahoma, will soon house 1,400 Central American children, the Trump administration says. It's not the first time the US has used army bases to house refugees.Jana Lipman, Associate Professor of History, Tulane UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1189422019-06-17T22:00:39Z2019-06-17T22:00:39ZRaptors victory: Feel-good multiculturalism masks reality of anti-Black racism in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279928/original/file-20190618-118510-1as8cn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Carding and racial profiling continues unabated - even as the multicultural unity of Canada seems to be at an all time high after the Raptors&#39; NBA victory as seen here at the victory parade on June 17. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>During what was probably one of the most exciting and gratifying moments of his professional life, moments after the Raptors’ NBA finals victory on Thursday, a California sheriff’s deputy stopped Raptors president Masai Ujiri <a href="https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/2019/06/14/raptors-president-masai-ujiri-being-investigated-over-possible-altercation-after-game-6-victory-reports-say.html">from walking onto the court for the Raptors’ trophy presentation</a>. The deputy carded him and asked him for his credentials.</p>
<p>Even though he is the president of the Toronto Raptors’ basketball team and even though it was his own team’s victory ceremony, as a Black executive, he was treated with suspicion, as if he was trespassing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279889/original/file-20190617-118505-jugkpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279889/original/file-20190617-118505-jugkpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=384&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279889/original/file-20190617-118505-jugkpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=384&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279889/original/file-20190617-118505-jugkpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=384&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279889/original/file-20190617-118505-jugkpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=482&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279889/original/file-20190617-118505-jugkpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=482&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279889/original/file-20190617-118505-jugkpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=482&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, centre left, with guard Kyle Lowry after the Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Authorities are investigating an incident between Ujiri and a sheriff’s deputy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Tony Avelar)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That same day, a conflict studies and human rights student at the University of Ottawa and vice-president of academic affairs for the program’s student association, <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/humiliating-black-uottawa-student-cuffed-in-campus-carding-incident">Jamal Koulmiye-Boyce, was also racially profiled, carded and harassed by security on his own campus</a>. According to Koulmiye-Boyce, as well as bystander accounts with audio and video recordings, he was skateboarding on campus when security asked him to stop. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/living-and-breathing-while-black-racial-profiling-and-other-acts-of-violence-118437">Living and breathing while Black: Racial profiling and other acts of violence</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Security guards then demanded he show ID. When he explained that he left his wallet with his ID in his on-campus student office, the guards accused him of trespassing, and aggressively handcuffed and detained him. They then called the police. </p>
<p>Koulmiye-Boyce was held for several hours in the back of a police car before he was allowed to leave. The only reason guards held him? Skateboarding without a wallet. Even though Jamal is like many other students on campus, he was treated as a security threat because he is a Black student. </p>
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<p>For too many Black Canadians, this type of scrutiny is a reality.</p>
<p>How do we reconcile the daily racism that Black people face in our country with our public expressions of multicultural pride? </p>
<p>Canadians loved watching the Raptors achieve their dream of becoming NBA champions for many reasons: the tough losses and inspired comebacks; the “business trip” attitude the players maintained under extreme pressure; the giant parties emulating Jurassic Park popping up all over the county. </p>
<p>But I believe that for many Canadians, one of the most exciting aspects of the Raptors’ playoff victory was its feel-good multiculturalism.</p>
<h2>Multiculturalism and anti-Black racism</h2>
<p>Many Raptors’ fans are proud that Ujiri is the first African GM in the NBA. Ujiri often praises Canadian multiculturalism and makes jokes about how much better Canada is than the United States when it comes to welcoming immigrants, thanking “<a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/raptors-president-ujiri-highlights-team-represents-toronto-canada/">Donald Trump for making Toronto an unbelievable sports destination</a>.” </p>
<p>The sight of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/navbhatiasuperfan/?hl=en">superfan Nav Bhatia</a> leading what he calls a “beautiful rainbow” of Canadian fans after a Raptors’ win in the land of Trump sure feels good. And media stories about fans like <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-raptors-inspiring-city-and-country-1.5149411">15-year-old Yasmin Said help as well.</a> Said matches her red hijab to the Raptors’ logo when she plays basketball with the Hijabi Ballers, a group that encourages young Muslim women to get involved in sports. As a nation, we seem delighted by these beautiful multicultural moments.</p>
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<p>Many Canadians were also incensed when <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kyle-lowry-mark-stevens-shove-tensions-nba-1.5162567">Mark Stevens, a white co-owner of the Golden State Warriors, shoved Raptors’ Kyle Lowry in Game 3 when he bumped into courtside fans</a>. Canadian outrage about American racism feels good. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/dear-white-people-wake-up-canada-is-racist-83124">Dear white people, wake up: Canada is racist</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But as journalist <a href="https://muslimlink.ca/component/k2/author/1967-chelbydaigle">Chelby Daigle</a> argues, sometimes Canadians prefer to talk about “<a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2016/09/unlearning-anti-black-racism-101-stop-canadiansplaining">the multicultural wonderland of Canada as opposed to the evil U.S …</a>” as a way to minimize the trauma of anti-Black racism in Canada and as a way to deflect blame and responsibility. Our multicultural pride also “<a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2016/09/unlearning-anti-black-racism-101-stop-canadiansplaining">reduces the Black experience in the U.S. to just being victims of racist violence, while ignoring the agency, creativity, ingenuity and resiliency of Black Americans.”</a></p>
<p>Canadians, Daigle contends, are letting themselves and the entire nation off the hook because Canada doesn’t suck as badly as <a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2016/09/unlearning-anti-black-racism-101-stop-canadiansplaining">“the nation could possibly suck.</a>” </p>
<p>Canadians may cherish the idea that we are more open, more multicultural and more benevolent than Americans, but the realities of systemic racism in Canada are real and well-documented. White Canadians are <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=2YWtRn0l7a4C&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=where+the+waters+divide&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj5kuqEmqTcAhUlw1kKHZFHAJAQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&amp;q=where%20the%20waters%20divide&amp;f=false">less burdened by pollution than other racial groups</a>. They have <a href="https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/jcie/index.php/jcie/article/view/4575">longer life expectancies, higher incomes and better educational opportunities</a>. White Canadians are <a href="http://diversityhealthcare.imedpub.com/the-impact-of-inequality-on-health-in-canada-a-multidimensional-framework.php?aid=1943">more likely to receive better health care</a>. They are <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/29768333?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">less likely to be incarcerated</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10439463.2011.610198">to be stopped and searched by police</a> and <a href="http://johnhoward.ca/blog/race-crime-justice-canada/">to face bias in the Canadian criminal justice system</a>.</p>
<p>These issues are not isolated or random events, but are part of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3874373?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">long historical, structural and ongoing acts</a> of <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">“state-sanctioned violence and concerted neglect of Black people.</a>” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/quiet-canadian-ugly-american-does-racism-differ-north-of-the-border-81388">Quiet Canadian, ugly American: Does racism differ north of the border?</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>Carding has been banned but continues anyway</h2>
<p>What happened to Koulmiye-Boyce also raises questions about security policies and the abuse of power by campus protection services. According to the University of Ottawa’s security regulations, “<a href="https://www.uottawa.ca/administration-and-governance/policy-33-security">members of the protection services are authorized to request proof of identity from persons on campus</a>.” </p>
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<p>New rules banning random carding by police came into effect in Ontario in 2017. These regulations are supposed to <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/160058">ban police from collecting identifying information arbitrarily or based on a person’s race</a>. However, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/ontario-carding-ban-1.3939558">many community groups don’t think these changes go far enough</a>. Why are security guards allowed to randomly ID people on campus while police officers are, in theory, not allowed to infringe on people’s rights in this way?</p>
<p>At the University of Ottawa campus, we need resources, events and supports specifically dedicated to combating anti-Black racism and supporting Black students, staff and faculty as well as recruitment and retention related to Black students, staff and faculty. And white campus members need to learn about anti-Black racism and do the work of sharing this knowledge with other white people as well.</p>
<p>If the purpose of university protection services, according to the university’s regulations, is “<a href="https://www.uottawa.ca/administration-and-governance/policy-33-security">to enhance the security of persons and their property, to ensure that their rights are protected</a>,” then we have to ask, whose security and rights is the university safeguarding? Certainly not Jamal’s.</p>
<p>While displays of Canadian multicultural unity may feel good, including expressions of Raptors fandom in the form of parades and jerseys, as long as Black Canadians are singled out for greater scrutiny in Canadian society, multiculturalism acts as a facade that allows anti-Black racism to continue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118942/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corrie Scott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How do we reconcile the daily racism that Black people face in our country with our public expressions of multicultural pride?Corrie Scott, Associate Professor at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1058272018-10-29T00:03:24Z2018-10-29T00:03:24ZWhat history reveals about surges in anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242644/original/file-20181029-7068-yxwhf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People place flowers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Shooting-Synagogue/f227ec273cfc4a578e8df204fa176c6c/90/0">AP Photo/Matt Rourke</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/tiroteo-en-pittsburgh-la-historia-de-las-oleadas-antisemitas-y-antimigrantes-en-eeuu-105909">Leer en español</a></em>.</p>
<p>The shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh is believed to be the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/27/us/jewish-hate-crimes-fbi/index.html">deadliest attack on Jews in American history</a>. Eleven people were killed when the gunman burst in on the congregation’s morning worship service carrying an assault rifle and three handguns. </p>
<p>The suspect, Robert Bowers, is reported to be a frequent user of Gab, a social networking site that has becoming increasingly popular among white nationalists and other alt-right groups. He is alleged to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/robert-bowers-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooter.html?action=click&amp;module=inline&amp;pgtype=Article">regularly reposted anti-Semitic slurs</a>, expressed virulent anti-immigrant sentiments, called immigrants <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/robert-bowers-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooter.html?action=click&amp;module=inline&amp;pgtype=Article">“invaders,” and claimed that Jews are “the enemy of white people</a>.”</p>
<p>The magnitude of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre may be unprecedented, but it is only the latest in the series of hate crimes against Jews. In February 2017, more than 100 gravestones were vandalized at a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/us/jewish-cemetery-vandalized/">cemetery outside of St. Louis</a>, Missouri, and at another <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/26/us/jewish-cemetery-vandalism-philadelphia/">Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia</a>. Indeed, hate crimes have been on an increase against minority religions, people of color and immigrants. In the 10 days following the 2016 presidential election, nearly 900 hate-motivated incidents were reported, <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/heres-a-rundown-of-the-latest-campus-climate-incidents-since-trumps-election/115553">many on college campuses</a>. Many of these incidents targeted Muslims, people of color and immigrants, along with Jews.</p>
<p>This outpouring of anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic sentiment is reminiscent in many ways of the political climate during the years between the first and second world wars in the U.S. or the interwar period. </p>
<h2>America as the ‘melting pot’</h2>
<p>In its early years, the United States maintained an “open door policy” that drew millions of immigrants from all religions to enter the country, including Jews. Between 1820 and 1880, <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=20118">over 9 million immigrants entered America</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XseTz_sAAAAJ&amp;hl=en">As a Jewish studies scholar,</a> I am all too aware that by the early 1880s, American nativists – people who believed that the “genetic stock” of Northern Europe was superior to that of Southern and Eastern Europe – began pushing for the exclusion of “foreigners,” whom they “viewed with deep suspicion.” </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fifty German-Jewish refugee children, ranging in age from 5 to 13, salute the American flag, June 5, 1939.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, as scholar <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barbara_Bailin">Barbara Bailin</a> writes, most of the immigrants, who were from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, “were considered so different in composition, religion, and culture from earlier immigrants as to trigger a xenophobic reaction that served to generate <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">more restrictive immigration laws</a>.” </p>
<p>In August 1882, Congress responded to increasing concerns about America’s “open door” policy and passed the <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">Immigration Act of 1882</a>, which included a provision denying entry to “any convict, lunatic, idiot or any person unable to take care of himself without becoming a public charge.” </p>
<p>However, enforcement was not strict, in part because immigration officers working at the points of entry were expected to implement these restrictions as they saw fit. </p>
<p>In fact, it was during the late 19th century that the American “melting pot” was born: Nearly 22 million immigrants from all over the world entered the U.S. between 1881 and 1914. </p>
<p>They included approximately 1,500,000 million European Jews hoping to escape the longstanding legally enforced <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">anti-Semitism of many parts of the European continent,</a> which limited where Jews could live, what kinds of universities they could attend and what kinds of professions they could hold. </p>
<h2>Fear of Jews and immigrants</h2>
<p>Nativists continued to rail against the demographic shifts and in particular took issue with the high numbers of Jews and Southern Italians entering the country. </p>
<p>These fears were eventually reflected in <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">the makeup of Congress</a>, since the electorate voted increasing numbers of nativist congresspeople into office who vowed to change immigration laws with their constituent’s anti-immigrant sentiments in mind.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=461&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=461&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=461&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=580&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=580&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=580&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigrants on Ellis Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001704437/">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nativist and isolationist sentiment in America only increased, as Europe fell headlong into World War I, “the war to end all wars.” On Feb. 4, 1917, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917, which reversed America’s open door policy and denied entry to the majority of immigrants seeking entry. As a result, between <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">1918 and 1921, only 20,019</a> Jews were admitted into the U.S.</p>
<p>The 1924 Immigration Act tightened the borders further. It transferred the decision to admit or deny immigrants from the immigration officers at the port of entry to the Foreign Services Office, which issued visas after the completion of a lengthy <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">application with supporting documentation.</a></p>
<p>The quotas established by the act also set strict limits on the number of new immigrants allowed after 1924. The number of Central and Eastern Europeans allowed to enter the U.S. was dramatically reduced.</p>
<p>The 1924 quotas provided visas to a mere 2 percent of each nationality already in the U.S by 1890. They excluded immigrants from Asia completely, except for immigrants from Japan and the Philippines. The stated fundamental purpose of this immigration act was to <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act">preserve the ideal of U.S. “homogeneity.”</a> </p>
<p>Congress did not revise the act until 1952.</p>
<h2>Why does this history matter?</h2>
<p>The political climate of the interwar period has many similarities with the anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic environment today. </p>
<p>President Trump’s platform is comprised in large part of strongly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/21/trumps-first-100-days-on-illegal-immigrants-anti-semitism-and-transgender-students/?utm_term=.1d2c3c189db4">anti-immigrant rhetoric</a>. <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/">A Pew Charitable Trust survey</a> shows that as many as 66 percent of registered voters who supported Trump consider immigration a “very big problem,” while only 17 percent of Hillary Clinton’s supporters said the same. </p>
<p>Moreover, 59 percent of Trump supporters actively associate <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/25/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration/">“unauthorized immigrants with serious criminal behavior.”</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporters of President Trump during a campaign rally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/25218962886/in/photolist-EqvM3W-EqvH81-EziHuG-wQY9em-Dv5ErA-F2v8bb-K3nj9y-RsG4rg-jtNHFb-J9pP3u-C6xeV7-P5jt7G-StkK5Z-Jic1MB-Hnaxxk-QetVux-R837XU-HndmbC-Rm587m-QRgTcG-SsLm3g-NDDxSu-JfhLE5-QgR9Yy-Qd7Lwv-NGFgUz-MJEHo6-S9nL2h-Jikh2i-MrVHLj-BFs7WJ-Pj5unk-KJpDj3-KJpFuA-FxrwhF-RZiHJt-Dv6Szm-Nsw3BS-EqvDRw-Dv6ReA-CdHiFA-EzSAXr-CdP4D5-CdNqkh-RpCA2w-EquzPW-EquycN-EsPoqT-Q8bQws-C6u1As">Gage Skidmore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>President Trump’s claims about the dangers posed by immigrants are not be supported by facts; but they do indicate increased isolationism, nativism and right-wing nationalism within the U.S. All over again, we see anti-immigrant sentiment and anti-Semitism, going hand in hand. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-history-reveals-about-surges-in-anti-semitism-and-anti-immigrant-sentiments-74146">an article</a> originally published on April 2, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ingrid Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After the killing of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, a scholar explains why this hate crime reminds her of the political climate between the two world wars in the US.Ingrid Anderson, Associate Director of Jewish Studies, Lecturer, Arts & Sciences Writing Program, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/919972018-02-27T09:06:37Z2018-02-27T09:06:37ZWhat today's anti-immigrant populists could learn from Homer about kindness to strangers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207643/original/file-20180223-108116-wvhvch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Odysseus and the Cyclops Polyphemus: how not to treat strangers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AArnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Odysseus_and_Polyphemus.jpg">Arnold Böcklin, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09szdtr">Troy</a>, a new BBC adaptation of Homer’s Iliad, shows the enduring interest we have in Ancient Greek myths. Today, Homer’s epic works remain both politically and ethically relevant. The Greek poet’s insight into why law and legality matter is particularly enlightening in the context of contemporary debates about immigration, which loom large amid the rise of right-wing populism on both sides of the Atlantic. </p>
<p>Those who object to immigration and demonise immigrants argue that the West’s legal traditions are endangered by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/aug/08/daily-mail-express-illegal-immigrants">lawless migrants</a> who are <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/04/nigel-farage-migrants-could-pose-sex-attack-threat-to-britain/">incapable of peaceful integration</a>. </p>
<p>But Homer helps us see that the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/05/berlusconi-pledges-to-deport-600000-illegal-immigrants-italy-election">politicians</a> and <a href="http://www.sub-scribe.co.uk/2016/09/the-press-and-immigration-reporting.html">tabloid press</a> who repeat and <a href="http://www.sub-scribe2015.co.uk/whitetops-immigration.html#.Wo2cIiXFLct">reinforce this narrative</a> suffer from a bad case of political illiteracy. Kindness to strangers is a cornerstone of the West’s tradition of <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1451&amp;context=yjlh">political thought about legality</a>. </p>
<p>Although legality and justice <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1451&amp;context=yjlh">are not necessarily the same</a>, the prevalent view in the West has always been – at least until recently – that justice is the main reason why laws matter at all. For example, at the time of the French Revolution, the French were well aware of law’s failures of justice when it came to protecting their freedom and equality. Yet, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Napoleonic-Code">the post-revolutionary recipe</a> to achieve greater justice was not less law, but clearer, more general, better administered laws. </p>
<h2>Hospitality in the Odyssey</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207645/original/file-20180223-108110-hbvbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207645/original/file-20180223-108110-hbvbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207645/original/file-20180223-108110-hbvbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207645/original/file-20180223-108110-hbvbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207645/original/file-20180223-108110-hbvbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207645/original/file-20180223-108110-hbvbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207645/original/file-20180223-108110-hbvbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Homer: big on hospitality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Homer_British_Museum.jpg">British Museum, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This same association between legality and justice can be found all the way back to the origins of Western political thought about the rule of law. In the Odyssey, Homer’s second epic poem, legality is centred around <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1451&amp;context=yjlh">fulfilling the duties of hospitality towards strangers</a>. Odysseus, tossed from shore to shore on his eventful journey back to his home, Ithaca, constantly asks himself where he has landed. He wonders if the inhabitants of each land he reaches are lawless, violent, savage; or rather god-fearing and friendly to strangers. For Homer, lawlessness is the opposite of kindness to strangers. </p>
<p>In the Odyssey, having laws and being civilised means taking seriously the duties of hospitality, through giving assistance and gifts to strangers. In contrast, being lawless and savage means refusing strangers the rites of hospitality, or, worse, abusing them. In the poem, the starkest example of this lawless savagery is the Cyclops Polyphemus. When Odysseus’s companions land on an unknown island and become trapped inside the Cyclops’s cave when they go exploring, he feasts upon them. Odysseus himself, with a few of his men, escapes this fate: he blinds Polyphemus and manages to leave the cave when the Cyclops lets out his flock of sheep.</p>
<p>It is not by accident that managing the relationship between host and stranger well is the most significant test of justice in the Odyssey, and that Zeus himself – the Greek world’s top deity – was the protector of strangers. There is a profound asymmetry in social power between host and stranger. A host is embedded in a community, which brings with it material and intangible advantages. A vulnerable stranger isn’t. </p>
<p>The message that justice and legality are measured by how you treat strangers is reinforced at every turn in the Odyssey, including at its end. When Odysseus finally makes it back to Ithaca against overwhelming odds, Athena disguises him as an old and frail stranger. But he is shamelessly abused by royal pretenders, who have been camping out in his royal palace and wooing Penelope, the Queen, in an attempt to seize power. They make fun of the old supplicant, throw a stool at him, and encourage another homeless beggar to turn against him for their own amusement. Odysseus, with the help of his son Telemachus, exacts bloody revenge upon them. </p>
<h2>The opposite of xenophobia</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207646/original/file-20180223-108119-1t6p913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207646/original/file-20180223-108119-1t6p913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=316&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207646/original/file-20180223-108119-1t6p913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=316&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207646/original/file-20180223-108119-1t6p913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=316&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207646/original/file-20180223-108119-1t6p913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=397&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207646/original/file-20180223-108119-1t6p913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=397&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207646/original/file-20180223-108119-1t6p913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=397&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nigel Farage was widely condemned for UKIP’s ‘Breaking Point’ poster ahead of the UK’s EU referendum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Philip Toscano/PA Archive</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By depicting foreigners in general – and certain ethno-religious groups such as <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-leader-nigel-farage-puts-threat-of-immigrant-crime-wave-at-centre-stage-for-european-elections-8827685.html">Romanians</a>, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/967daaae-2412-11e7-8691-d5f7e0cd0a16">Muslims</a> or <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-37230916/drug-dealers-criminals-rapists-what-trump-thinks-of-mexicans">Mexicans</a> in particular – as a <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2016/04/excluding">threat to the West’s tradition of legality</a>, populist anti-immigration rhetoric betrays the very foundations of that tradition. It obscures that tradition’s roots in an aspiration to justice, whose centrepiece must be – as it was in Homer – kindness to strangers, not xenophobia.</p>
<p>The Homeric universe is a curious place. Gods can be fickle and petty; heroes owe their superhuman status less to magnanimity than magnificence. But some of the ways in which Homer challenges our convictions are serious, not quaint. Read today, the Odyssey turns on its head the contemporary belief – taken to its extreme by the logic of right-wing populism – that hospitality is purely a matter of charity, rather than a duty required by justice. For Homer there are no outsiders to justice. He reminds us that kindness to strangers lies at the very heart of our faith in the value of having laws.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aleardo Zanghellini does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why right-wing populism gets the tradition of legality and justice exactly the wrong way round.Aleardo Zanghellini, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/766862017-05-30T01:39:52Z2017-05-30T01:39:52ZThe US and Mexico: Education and understanding<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171146/original/file-20170526-6402-1eubcmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The University of California-Mexico Initiative Education Working Group created Project SOL, an online curriculum program that teaches students in their native language.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/30308/teacheredithissakhanian-helps-bryanlima">University of California, Riverside</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, officials from the U.S. and Mexico revitalized their commitment to fight cross-border smuggling of drugs, arms and money. U.S. officials recognized America’s demand for drugs as “<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/politics/tillerson-mexico-drug-trade/">the magnet</a>” that feeds drug smuggling, and Mexico committed to tackle jointly the elements of the cartels’ business model.</p>
<p>While illegal immigration and drugs dominate much of the public discourse around U.S.-Mexico relations, the partnership between these countries is vital and dynamic in many other ways. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/growing-together-economic-ties-between-the-united-states-and-mexico">two neighbors</a> trade over US$1 million a minute, employ many millions in good jobs on both sides of the border, have over a million legal border crossings each day and have over 35 million citizens of shared heritage.</p>
<p>We have devoted years of our professional lives (in government, academic and social sectors) to developing and implementing strategies for improving our countries’ relationship. As such, we’ve been taken aback by the sharply critical U.S. rhetoric about Mexico in recent months and the anti-American sentiment that quickly rekindled in Mexico.</p>
<p>Our most recent work, however, shows that educational and research exchanges can bridge the widening divide, while also building workforces that can help the two nations thrive in the technological revolutions ahead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171046/original/file-20170525-23251-1hxzabl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171046/original/file-20170525-23251-1hxzabl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171046/original/file-20170525-23251-1hxzabl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171046/original/file-20170525-23251-1hxzabl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171046/original/file-20170525-23251-1hxzabl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171046/original/file-20170525-23251-1hxzabl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171046/original/file-20170525-23251-1hxzabl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attendees of the Anaheim Convention Center rally in 2016 show support for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/anaheim-california-may-25-2016-thousands-426989245?src=1lXnivognR_nJxudfQwQJg-1-2">Mike Ledray/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Academic exchanges as long-term bridges</h2>
<p>We have seen firsthand the impact of programs on young Mexicans who returned from U.S. stays with pride, enthusiasm and improved English. We’ve also witnessed how American students interacting with their counterparts in Mexico enhance the appreciation and respect for each others’ countries.</p>
<p>Yet, <a href="https://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Insights/Project-Atlas/Explore-Data/United-States">student exchange numbers</a> are not encouraging. Mexico ranks 10th for the number of full-time students studying in the U.S., placing it far behind China and India, and also trailing Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Vietnam, and northern neighbor Canada. The story is worse in <a href="http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/US-Study-Abroad/Leading-Destinations/2013-15">the other direction</a>: Only 4,712 U.S. students were studying in Mexico in 2014-15, 12th among destinations for U.S. students.</p>
<p>There are many reasons for the low numbers, but here is the bottom line: Two such interconnected neighbors should be doing better.</p>
<p><iframe id="OFTy7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/OFTy7/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In 2013, we were a part of launching an initiative aimed at tackling this problem. The <a href="https://mx.usembassy.gov/education-culture/education/the-u-s-mexico-bilateral-forum-on-higher-education-innovation-and-research/">Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation and Research</a> (known by its Spanish acronym, FOBESII) gathers educators, private citizens, companies and officials from universities and government. Their aim is to expand long-term investments in education and research partnerships between the U.S. and Mexico.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://mex-eua.sre.gob.mx/images/stories/PDF/AchievementsUSMexicoBilateralForumonHigherEducationInnovationandResearchFOBESII.pdf">past four years</a>, FOBESII has fostered more than 115 new agreements between Mexican and U.S. universities.</p>
<p>Mexico’s federal government allocated an unprecedented $42.9 million for these programs during 2014-16. More than 100,000 Mexican students – many of them from low income families – came to the U.S. as full-time graduate students, as single-semester researchers or in summer programs designed to improve English proficiency. These experiences changed the way students (and their families) viewed <a href="https://comexusfulbright-garciarobles.tumblr.com/">their future potential</a> and, importantly these days, their opinion about the United States was greatly improved.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the U.S. public funds to support these exchanges were more limited than the investments made by Mexico. Private sector sponsors, however, have worked with the U.S. government to develop <a href="http://www.100kstrongamericas.org/">32 academic projects with Mexican universities</a>, ranging from engineering, physics, geology and health to environmental sciences.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171037/original/file-20170525-23245-1nw93ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171037/original/file-20170525-23245-1nw93ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171037/original/file-20170525-23245-1nw93ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171037/original/file-20170525-23245-1nw93ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171037/original/file-20170525-23245-1nw93ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171037/original/file-20170525-23245-1nw93ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171037/original/file-20170525-23245-1nw93ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2015, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Earl Anthony Wayne visits students, who participated in the Fulbright-Garcia Robles program in the U.S., from The Technological University Retoño.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/USCGGuadalajara/photos/pcb.10153205193770129/10153205192465129/?type=3&amp;theater">Consulate General of the United States Guadalajara</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Building things together</h2>
<p>While targeting such exchanges provides opportunities to young scholars and promotes cultural understanding, it can also produce better educated workforces.</p>
<p>Mexico and the United States literally and figuratively <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/growing_together_economic_ties_between_the_united_states_and_mexico.pdf">build things together</a>, with pieces crossing the border many times before a finished product emerges. American parts and products make up, on average, about <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/growing_together_economic_ties_between_the_united_states_and_mexico.pdf">40 percent of the value</a> of a finished manufactured product from Mexico. That’s much more than the U.S. contributes to other countries’ manufacturing and positively impacts U.S. jobs and profits.</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://theoutline.com/post/1316/fourth-industrial-revolution-developing-economies">fourth industrial revolution</a>” is unfolding: digital technologies are leading to faster and more complex advances in practically all facets of life. Both countries are going to need better equipped labor forces to maintain this highly integrated production network and to compete with others in the world.</p>
<p><iframe id="lRaMG" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lRaMG/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Several ongoing initiatives within the framework of FOBESII will support the goal of better-equipped labor forces. The University of California has raised around $15 million to support <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-napolitano-mexico-20170323-story.html">programs linking their universities with Mexican institutions</a>. Universities in <a href="http://www.contex.utsystem.edu/">Texas</a> and <a href="https://global.arizona.edu/unam-ua">Arizona</a> have developed similar programs, focusing on research in energy, the environment and other common topics in science and technology. The U.S. <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/">National Science Foundation</a> and Mexico’s <a href="http://www.conacyt.mx/">National Council of Science and Technology</a> have created 12 more joint projects.</p>
<p>Michael M. Crow, President of Arizona State University, described the rationale behind <a href="https://mexico.asu.edu/">his school’s partnerships</a> this way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We share a border and many common interests with Mexico. It’s natural that we seek stronger ties through education, research and innovation so we can help each other prepare for the challenges and the changing nature of the advanced workforce of the 21st century.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Every year, we’ve seen many more students and universities who want to participate than the current funding allows.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171045/original/file-20170525-23241-far5e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171045/original/file-20170525-23241-far5e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171045/original/file-20170525-23241-far5e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171045/original/file-20170525-23241-far5e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171045/original/file-20170525-23241-far5e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171045/original/file-20170525-23241-far5e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171045/original/file-20170525-23241-far5e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2016, The University of Texas and Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology launched ConTex as a collaborative effort to foster scientific training and research between the U.S. and Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/university-texas-ut-against-blue-sky-221247628?src=Zs_09zwewWXn9z1ZcvH_ww-1-14">f11photo/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Investing in the future of North America</h2>
<p>Historically, other neighbors in the world have made similar strategic decisions to invest in educational partnerships. The <a href="http://www.erasmusprogramme.com/">European Erasmus</a> program, for instance, has been supported by billions of dollars of funding since it was established in 1987. Over <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1110_en.htm">three million students</a> have studied in other countries at over 4,000 post-secondary institutions. Aside from the academic value of the program, it has contributed to crafting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2016.1210911">a more robust European vision</a> among the youth.</p>
<p>As with European cooperation, the comparatively modest U.S.-Mexico efforts are not about charity – or even just education. They concern the strategic interests of neighbors in the face of global competition, technological revolutions, and persistent prejudices that strain relations between neighbors.</p>
<p>Mexico and the United States will remain neighbors. Their shared challenges will not disappear, but shared opportunities could be missed. We should double down on overcoming our misunderstandings and solving concrete problems together. Learning and researching together will definitely help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Earl Anthony Wayne is affiliated with the Wilson Center, the Atlantic Council, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the American Foreign Service Association. He is an advisor to HSBC bank on countering illicit finance.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sergio M. Alcocer is affiliated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), México Exponencial, the Mexican Council for International Affairs (COMEXI), the US National Academy of Engineering and the Mexican Academy of Engineering. </span></em></p>Despite hard work by both governments to overcome mistrust, more is needed to build mutual understanding between Americans and Mexicans. Educational partnerships may hold the answer.Earl Anthony Wayne, Visiting Professor of International Affairs, Hamilton CollegeSergio M. Alcocer, Research Professor, Institute of Engineering, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/741462017-04-03T00:59:35Z2017-04-03T00:59:35ZWhat history reveals about surges in anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163332/original/image-20170330-4565-19bkst.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than 100 headstones were vandalized at the Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia in Feb. 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This February, more than 100 gravestones were vandalized at the Chesed Shel Emeth Society <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/us/jewish-cemetery-vandalized/">Cemetery outside of St. Louis</a>, Missouri and at the Jewish <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/26/us/jewish-cemetery-vandalism-philadelphia/">Mount Carmel Cemetery</a> in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.adl.org/">Anti-Defamation League (ADL)</a> has called anti-Semitism in the U.S. a “very serious concern.” An ADL task force confirmed that 800 journalists in the U.S. have been targeted with more than <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-task-force-issues-report-detailing-widespread-anti-semitic-harassment-of">19,000 anti-Semitic tweets</a>. The organization also reported an upsurge in <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-lists-top-10-manifestations-of-anti-semitism-in-2016">anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses</a>.</p>
<p>Most disconcerting, however, is the ADL’s admission that, although this increase in anti-Semitism is troubling, “it is essential to recognize that, for both positive and negative reasons – <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/op-ed/anti-semitism-is-real-but-we-are-no-longer-alone">we are not alone.”</a> In the 10 days following the presidential election in 2016, nearly 900 hate-motivated incidents were reported, <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/heres-a-rundown-of-the-latest-campus-climate-incidents-since-trumps-election/115553">and many on college campuses</a>. Many of these incidents targeted Muslims, people of color and immigrants as well as Jews.</p>
<p>White supremacist groups like Identity Evropa, American Vanguard and American Renaissance have <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-white-supremacists-making-unprecedented-effort-on-us-college-campuses-to">also been more active on college campuses.</a></p>
<p>I am a Jewish studies scholar. Research shows that this outpouring of anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic sentiment is reminiscent in many ways of the political climate during the years between the first and second world wars in the U.S. – known as the interwar period. </p>
<h2>America as the ‘melting pot’</h2>
<p>In its early years the United States maintained an “open door policy” that drew millions of immigrants from all religions to enter the country, including Jews. Between 1820 and 1880, <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=20118">over nine million immigrants entered America.</a> By the early 1880s, American nativists – people who believed that the “genetic stock” of Northern Europe was superior to that of Southern and Eastern Europe – began pushing for the exclusion of “foreigners,” whom they “viewed with deep suspicion.” </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=756&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=950&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fifty German-Jewish refugee children, ranging in age from 5 to 13, salute the American flag, June 5, 1939.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, according to scholar <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barbara_Bailin">Barbara Bailin</a>, most of the immigrants, who were from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, “were considered so different in composition, religion, and culture from earlier immigrants as to trigger a xenophobic reaction that served to generate <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">more restrictive immigration laws.”</a> </p>
<p>In August 1882, Congress responded to increasing concerns about America’s “open door” policy and passed the <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">Immigration Act of 1882</a>, which included a provision denying entry to “any convict, lunatic, idiot or any person unable to take care of himself without becoming a public charge.” </p>
<p>However, enforcement was not strict, in part because immigration officers working at the points of entry were expected to implement these restrictions as they saw fit. In fact, it was during the late 19th century that the American “melting pot” was born: nearly 22 million immigrants from all over the world entered the U.S. between 1881 and 1914. They included approximately 1,500,000 million European Jews hoping to escape the longstanding legally enforced <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">anti-Semitism of many parts of the European continent,</a> which limited where Jews could live, what kinds of universities they could attend and what kinds of professions they could hold. </p>
<h2>Fear of Jews/immigrants</h2>
<p>Nativists continued to rail against the demographic shifts created by the United States’ lax immigration policy, and in particular took issue with the high numbers of Jews and Southern Italians entering the country, groups many nativists believed were racially inferior to Northern and Western Europeans. Nativists also voiced concerns about the <a href="http://cmsny.org/publications/kraut-nativism/">effects of cheaper labor</a> on the struggle for higher wages.</p>
<p>These fears were eventually reflected in <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">the makeup of Congress</a>, since the electorate voted increasing numbers of nativist congresspeople into office who vowed to change immigration laws with their constituent’s anti-immigrant sentiments in mind.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=461&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=461&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=461&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=580&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=580&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=580&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigrants, Ellis Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001704437/">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nativist and isolationist sentiment in America only increased, as Europe fell headlong into World War I, “the war to end all wars.” On Feb. 4, 1917 Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917, which reversed America’s open door policy and denied entry to the majority of immigrants seeking entry. As a result, between <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">1918 and 1921, only 20,019</a> Jews were admitted into the U.S.</p>
<p>The 1924 Immigration Act tightened the borders further. It transferred the decision to admit or deny immigrants from the immigration officers at the port of entry to the Foreign Services Office, which issued visas after the completion of a lengthy <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp;context=cc_etds_theses">application with supporting documentation.</a></p>
<p>The quotas established by the act also set strict limits on the number of new immigrants allowed after 1924. The number of Central and Eastern Europeans allowed to enter the U.S. was dramatically reduced: The 1924 quotas provided visas to a mere 2 percent of each nationality already in the U.S by 1890, and excluded immigrants from Asia completely (except for immigrants from Japan and the Phillipines). The stated fundamental purpose of this immigration act was to <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act">preserve the ideal of U.S. “homogeneity.”</a> Congress did not revise the act until 1952.</p>
<h2>Why does this history matter?</h2>
<p>The political climate of the interwar period has many similarities with the anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic environment today. </p>
<p>President Trump’s platform is comprised in large part of strongly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/21/trumps-first-100-days-on-illegal-immigrants-anti-semitism-and-transgender-students/?utm_term=.1d2c3c189db4">anti-immigrant rhetoric</a>. <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/25/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration/">A Pew Charitable Trust survey</a> shows that as many as 66 percent of registered voters who supported Trump consider immigration a “very big problem,” while only 17 percent of Hillary Clinton’s supporters said the same. Seventy-nine percent of Trump supporters embrace the proposal to build a wall “along the entire U.S. border with Mexico.” Moreover, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/">59 percent of Trump supporters actively associate</a> “unauthorized immigrants with serious criminal behavior.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporters of President Trump during a campaign rally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/25218962886/in/photolist-EqvM3W-EqvH81-EziHuG-wQY9em-Dv5ErA-F2v8bb-K3nj9y-RsG4rg-jtNHFb-J9pP3u-C6xeV7-P5jt7G-StkK5Z-Jic1MB-Hnaxxk-QetVux-R837XU-HndmbC-Rm587m-QRgTcG-SsLm3g-NDDxSu-JfhLE5-QgR9Yy-Qd7Lwv-NGFgUz-MJEHo6-S9nL2h-Jikh2i-MrVHLj-BFs7WJ-Pj5unk-KJpDj3-KJpFuA-FxrwhF-RZiHJt-Dv6Szm-Nsw3BS-EqvDRw-Dv6ReA-CdHiFA-EzSAXr-CdP4D5-CdNqkh-RpCA2w-EquzPW-EquycN-EsPoqT-Q8bQws-C6u1As">Gage Skidmore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I argue that much like the claims of interwar period nativists that Southern and Eastern European people were racially inferior, the assertions of President Trump and his supporters about immigrants and the dangers they pose are nothing more than demagoguery. The allegations about the high crime rate among immigrants are not borne out by statistical evidence: <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/25/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration/">Immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes</a> than people born in the U.S. </p>
<p>President Trump’s claims about the dangers posed by immigrants may not be supported by facts; but they do indicate the U.S.’ increased isolationism, nativism and right-wing nationalism. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/us/politics/travel-ban-muslim-trump.html?_r=0">His most recent travel ban blocks</a> immigrants from six predominantly Muslim nations, and includes a 120-day freeze on Syrian refugees specifically. And yet like the Jews of Europe from the interwar period, many of these refugees seek entry into the U.S. because their very lives are at stake.</p>
<p>For many scholars like myself, Trump’s “America First” approach is a reminder of the interwar period; all over again, we see anti-immigrant sentiment and anti-Semitism, going hand in hand. In the current climate, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/27/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/">Muslims are also easy targets</a> for a new generation of nativists, whose <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/157082/islamophobia-understanding-anti-muslim-sentiment-west.aspx">fears</a> are used to justify turning away refugees and immigrants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ingrid Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The U.S. saw an increase in anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant sentiments in the period between World War I and World War II. Here's why it matters to know that history today.Ingrid Anderson, Lecturer, Arts & Sciences Writing Program, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.